Ramblings from 1/2 of Infinity Squared

Mia's Easter Weekend Fun

2010-04-05T01:00:00.002-04:00

Digital ecard generated with Smilebox

Mia's New Tire Swing

2009-12-27T01:21:00.000-05:00

Frosty 5k in Charlotte

2009-01-28T10:01:00.005-05:00

Nadya, Mia and I ran a 5k last weekend, and will be running in at least one per month for the rest of the year. It's fun, and it keeps us motivated to stay in shape. Nadya finished 3rd in her age group for women. I finished in the middle of the pack for men in their 30s.

When I checked out the race results on the website, I noticed that they were using our picture on their home page. Feel free to check it out here:

http://www.chfmag.com/Frosty-5k-2009/frosty-5k-2009.html

Mia plays the drums, rides a scooter and more

2008-06-23T23:42:00.001-04:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mia's Third Birthday!

2008-06-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mia Golfing on Memorial Day in Florida

2008-05-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mia's First Boat Ride

2008-05-14T20:42:00.002-04:00

I know, I never post anything here, so it's mostly a waste of web space. However, every once in a while I get something online, and here's one example. It's a picture of Mia's first boat ride!

Mia's Christmas--2007

2008-01-20T00:41:00.000-05:00

As you can see, one of Mia's Christmas gifts was a small set of drums. They actually sound pretty darn good for a children's drum set. Fortunately, Mia doesn't play them for more than 2-3 minutes at a time. Otherwise daddy might be second guessing his decision to purchase them.

Mia is a lot of fun. She now speaks in 15 word sentences, and sometimes strings multiple sentences together into entire paragraphs. She usually does this when she's trying to tell us exactly what she wants us to do for her :)

She can now count from 1-20 and backwards from 10-0 in English, from 1-5 in Spanish, and can sing the ABC song. Her memory appears to be better than mommy or daddy's. This afternoon we had lunch at O'Charley's restaurant. We had been there over a month ago, at which time Mia and I played with the rocks outside the windows, one of which was shaped like a potato. Mia, without prompting from us, asked to go outside and play with the rocks. I asked her what shape rocks we played with last time, and she said one was shaped like a potato. I couldn't believe she remembered that. Anyway, each day I'm amazed by something that she says or does.

It's been too long between posts

2007-08-06T00:07:00.001-04:00

Here's a recent picture of Mia. She turned 2 on June 13, and she's growing up quickly.

Duplicate Homeowners

2007-04-26T23:21:00.000-04:00

We closed on the house as planned on Wednesday, so we are now the proud owners of a new home in Charlotte along with our house in Powell. We'll be traveling back to Columbus the evening of May 2, and will be around until the evening of May 6. If you're reading this, and you want to get together for dinner one evening, just let us know.

Also, feel free to write to us at our new address: 1005 Minden Drive, Matthews, NC 28104. Once we have a phone number (within a week or so) we'll let you know what it is.

Pictures of Our New House

2007-04-19T21:20:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of our soon to be new house. The builder is in the process of fixing several items based on last week's inspection and this morning's walkthrough. We will plan to do a second walkthrough early next week (assuming all repairs are made by that point) and still close on Wednesday, April 25. If all the items aren't fixed by then, we'll push the closing date back by a week, but we're hoping we won't have to. We are then planning to come back to Columbus to oversee the movers on May 3-6, and then have our stuff delivered to the new house on May 9. My mom is coming down to Charlotte to help us watch Mia so we can unpack all of our stuff (well, most of it. I don't think we ever unpacked all of it in the last house either).

Less than 30 days until closing

2007-04-06T23:10:00.000-04:00

We are officially in contract on the Brookhaven home. We have chosen hardwood flooring for all of the first floor except the family room, neutral carpet in the rest of the house, and tile in each of the upstairs bathrooms. We have an inspection on April 13 (Friday the 13!), and the final walkthrough on April 19. We are scheduled to close on April 25. We'll see how close to that date we end up being. If all goes as planned, we should be able have the movers take all our stuff from Powell to our new house the first week in May.

In the meantime, if you know anyone who wants a nice house on a golf course with a private back yard, please send them over to 3969 Andrew Lake Place :)

Buying a Home in Charlotte (maybe)

2007-03-24T01:11:00.000-04:00

We recently put in an offer on a new home in Matthews, in Union County, NC. We should find out Monday whether the offer will be accepted. The house is a new build, and part of the builder's current inventory. While the yard is neither as large nor as scenic as our house in Powell, the home does have an open floor plan, almost 4000 square feet, and we are able to pick our flooring types/colors. The commute looks to be bearable from this location, at least based on the current information I have from others and from driving it myself a few times. Also the community amenities are awesome, the community is new (so we should be able to meet people easily since they are new too) and since Nadya will be home with Mia, it will be great to have access to so much within walking distance.

A link to a virtual tour of a completed version of the home we're buying (but not using the rooms in the ways we'll use them): http://www.jwhomes.com/virtualtours/brookhaven%20essex%20all/essex%20web%20page/brochure.html

A link to the Brookhaven community amenities: http://www.jwhomes.com/Neighborhoods/main.asp?CityCode=CLT&Current=Amenity&Template=Amenity&NeighborhoodID=88

We thought seriously about putting an offer in on another home, in another community, but it would have been about $100,000 more expensive, and would have been the most expensive home in the subdivision (vs. the Brookhaven home which is one of the least expensive in the subdivision). Also, the commute would have been a bit longer. However, the home has a 3.5 car garage, relatively open floor plan, screened in porch, in-wall/ceiling speakers, and a private .8 acre lot that backs to homes in the $2-6 million price range.

The decision was certainly not easy, and we technically don't have a contract on either home yet, so stay tuned. We think we could be happy in either one, so as long as we get one of the two, we'll be happy. Plus, it will be nice to have an estimated timeframe for when we can get out of temporary housing. Can you believe we've passed the 1 month point in Charlotte? We've been here so long that other people I used to work with have left the company and the source of substantial demotivation has been removed.

If you set up a google e-mail account and sign up for google chat, we can chat in the evenings. It's easy to do, and it helps me to stay in touch with what's going on in your lives.

Our house is on the Market

2007-03-24T01:06:00.000-04:00

Well, we worked frantically last weekend to get our Powell, OH home ready to be listed. We painted, moved furniture to storage, bought fake plants to add color to some rooms, etc. Basically we became an episode of "Flip This House" or "Buy Me". Thanks to help from Bev, Kevin, Eric, Jen and my mom, we were able to get a lot done. Now all we can do is wait and hope the house sells soon. We've had several showings, with multiple interested parties, and we are hoping to get an offer soon, as that would allow us to rest more easily as we approach the purchase of a home in Charlotte. We'll see how things unfold.

"Day 1" Orientation

2007-03-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I will attend my day 1 orientation at BOA. Sure it's actually day 10, but I've been busy getting integrated into 5 different projects, attending off-site meetings, having 20+ onboarding discussions, etc. I'll let you know how the formal orientation goes. One thing I'm looking forward to is the 1 hour lunch break. During a normal work day, it's tough to find time to eat. If only each work day were like an episode of 24 where Jack Bower doesn't pee, eat or sleep. Then I could get plenty accomplished.

My Office Building

2007-03-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

As you can see in the sequence of pictures above, the security guard wasn't thrilled that I was taking pictures of the building I work within. Fortunately, he accepted my explanation that I was taking pictures for nostalgic purposes, and not with any malevolent intentions. Anyway, the first picture is the plaza leading to Chik-Fil-A and a couple other places to eat right outside my office building. It's also the beginning of my two block walk to the parking garage on my way home. The second picture is my office building (there are many other Bank of America buildings, and I'll try to take pictures of those too, at my own risk). I believe the second picture was taken as the security guard was calling his boss on his radio. In the third picture, you can see that I'm just a few seconds away from "a talking to".

Those pictures I mentioned...

2007-02-26T00:02:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to uploading a picture of my cube and a picture of one of the private phone areas. As it's midnight, that's going to be the extent of this post. I'll provide more reports of week 2 at B of A shortly.

Bank of America Day 3

2007-02-22T23:35:00.000-05:00

Well, you can see that I missed an entry for day 2. I've been quite busy trying to get acclimated to my new role. I now have meeting notices on my calendar for about 20 orientation meetings over the next week or so, along with my formal corporate orientation all day on Monday. Oh, and I found out yesterday that the person who hired me, my manager, has been given the opportunity to lead a 9 month project in China, to gain some global experience. While this is really cool, it also is another bit of uncertainty for me to juggle at this time.

In addition, I was in an all day offsite meeting today discussing the future course of our workgroup (cool to be part of, but a bit scary at the same time, since I may or may not end up liking all the elements of the redefined role, and we've already begun the relocation process). We had a dinner after today's session, which was quite nice and gave me a chance to get to know the team better, but put me back at temporary housing around 7:45pm, just barely in time to give Mia a bath and put her to bed.

The commute is about as bad as I expected, maybe even a little worse. I am still hoping to make effective use of the ability to work from a nearby satellite office at least 2 days per week. It seems that most meetings at B of A happen via teleconference, so that shouldn't be too difficult to arrange (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

Several of you will be interested to know that my average waking time for the past few days was about 6:15am, and I'll be up tomorrow by about 6:00am in the hopes that I can beat some of the traffic and get an hour of work done prior to the continuation of our offsite meeting.

We fly back to Columbus tomorrow evening, and I'm looking forward to seeing the friends we've left behind.

Day One at Bank of America

2007-02-20T23:28:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day at Bank of America, and I am now the proud borrower of a modern-looking cube with ample storage space and supplies, a Dell widescreen laptop, a photoless but functioning ID badge (I'll get my picture taken on Monday during my orientation session), and a variety of documents from multiple meetings during the day. On order are my business cards, cell phone and Blackberry (yes, it may finally be time to bid my Pocket PC farewell for a corporate approved device).

Although it would take too long to share all of my impressions of the day here, I thought it was very interesting that, since we're in a cube-based environment, the company has provided a couple of private phone areas with curtains, in case employees need to make any calls that can't be made from their desks (e.g., sensitive topics).

As for food, the cafeteria, Chik-Fil-A, and Quiznos are all within less than 2 blocks of my building. In addition, one branch of the YMCA fitness facilities is located in my building. Now I just need to develop the willpower to awake at 5am to exercise. I would definitely beat the morning rush hour with that plan. Speaking of the morning rush hour (that phraseology reminds me of something I've often heard Kevin say at work at Nationwide, and I will miss that and other things about the people I've left behind in Columbus), it took me 29 minutes this morning, leaving at 6:55am. This evening was not as good, as it took me 42 minutes, leaving at 5:41pm. Since we are looking at houses another 3-5 miles outside of the city, that would put the morning commute at closer to 40 minutes and the evening commute at 50+. That's certainly something I'll have to get used to, given that my prior commute was 15-20 minutes each way. On the positive side, I will be able to work from a satellite office a couple days per week, and that office is located about 10-15 minutes from the homes we're looking at.

Well, I need to get some rest. I've got many more documents to read tomorrow, and then I need to get ready for an offsite talent management meeting on Thursday and Friday. Oh, and then I'll be back in Columbus with Nadya and Mia late Friday night.

Temporary Housing in Charlotte

2007-02-19T22:31:00.000-05:00

Well, we made it to our temporary housing at 3:00am this morning. We left Powell, OH at 4:20pm on Sunday, and made several stops along the way. We drove both of our vehicles to make sure we could fit enough of Mia's toys, our cat, etc. Mia rode with me and Tashi (the cat) rode with Nadya. Both Mia and Tashi did very well in their respective vehicles, but we were slowed down by the snow in parts of Ohio and the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. When we reached the North Carolina, almost if by magic, all the snow was gone. Today's high temperature in Charlotte was 57, and the highs will be around 7o on Thursday and Friday. It feels weird, considering the fact that two days ago I was shoveling almost a foot of snow off of my driveway in Ohio.

The temporary housing is nice, but certainly not like home. We have 2 bedrooms with walk in closets, 2 full bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area, and living room (all with 9' ceilings). There is also a laundry room with a washer and dryer in the apartment, along with a small porch. Unfortunately, the main building was closed today, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow for our welcome packet. I was, however, able to find the business center to check my e-mail, and I located the fitness area, tennis courts and pool as well.

We had enough time today to unpack the cars, purchase groceries and go to a local park where Mia enjoyed playing on the slides, swings, etc. Tomorrow is my first day at Bank of America, so I need to get some rest. I'll write again soon.

Leadership Questions

2007-02-15T00:57:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the start of my new job at Bank of America, I have been doing a lot of reading on the topic of Leadership. I've recently read "The Leadership Pipeline" and several Harvard Business Review articles. Although multiple, sometimes conflicting, viewpoints are presented across the literature, I have captured below a couple things that caused me to ruminate about specific instances of leadership that I have viewed in the not so distant past...

Leadership Characteristics

When you become a leader, succcess is all about growing others

Leaders have to set the team's vision and make it come alive

Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency and credit (i.e., possess integrity)

Effective leaders are able to assemble a top-notch staff: A) They are willing to take risks by picking people who are unlike them-and who may even have different leadership styles; B) They are willing to take a chance on untested people if they size them up and conclude they have what it takes; C) They do not feel threatened when they hire someone who is more skilled, better experienced, and smarter than they are

Questions to Ask to Determine Leadership Effectiveness

Have you ever known this person to shade, color or withhold information?

Does this person give credit to others when appropriate?

Does this person stand firm with their opinions or move with the winds of politics?

Does this person command the respect and attention of senior executives?

Is this person more of a tactical or strategic thinker?

Does this person have a vision for the company? Have they demonstrated that they can move the business into new areas?

Has the person demonstrated the ability to assemble a good team?

Is the person threatened by people who are more experienced, smarter, or better technically?

Does the person surround themselves with strong people who will be candid and tell them what they need to know vs. what they want to hear?

Is this individual sometimes needlessly interested in certain activities?

If you've encountered instances of particularly good or bad leadership, I'm interested to know if the above items capture the essence of the difference. Share your examples with the world (or, um, the other 2 people who read this blog).

Relocation Snag #1

2007-02-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

Well, we were supposed to be traveling to Charlotte this evening to look at a bunch of houses over the weekend. Unfortunately, Mia is just getting over being sick and Nadya caught whatever Mia had. I'm wondering if I need one of those NIOSH approved respirators to ensure that I don't get sick as well. With all of the things that we need to accomplish in preparation for our relocation, every day is important. Fortunately, several of our friends have already offered to watch Mia, help with packing, etc. Now if we can just get organized enough to figure out how to best rely on the benevolence of these individuals over the next week or so. The type of support offered by our good friends in the Columbus area is something that we will miss when we begin our adjustment period in Charlotte. Of course, once we're out of temporary housing and into a home, we'll be eagerly anticipating visitors from "up North".

We're Moving to Charlotte

2007-02-04T14:02:00.000-05:00

For a variety of reasons, I've decided to take the Leadership/Organizational Development position at Bank of America in Charlotte, NC. My last day at Nationwide will be February 14 (Valentine's day) and my start date at BOA is February 20. We will arrive at our temporary housing location on February 18. What we need to work out now is whether we can all fit in one car to drive down, or whether I will need to drive while Nadya and Mia fly. The logistics of moving are at least as challenging as managing a work-related project workplan. Anyway, as we progress through the moving process, I'll keep you posted on our thoughts, learnings, etc.

My Dad on the Web

2007-01-21T00:32:00.000-05:00

In some additional internet browsing this evening/morning, I located a couple interesting things. First I performed a Google search for my name and found a Michael Zottoli who has a job in internet sales. I sent him a quick e-mail to see if he has any idea if/how we're related, so we'll see...

Second, I performed a search for my dad's name. Several sites came up, but the one listing the major steps in his career, prior to his retirement a couple years ago, was the most interesting, and can be found here.

Relocation? Me? Us? What? Why? To Where?

2007-01-20T23:59:00.000-05:00

In each individual's life there are several critical choices they make that influence how large portions of their lives will unfold. Similar to the choose your own adventure books that I read as a kid, each choice is a bit uncertain, although some choices are clearly safer than others. If life were a choose your own adventure book, we could make one choice, and then, if unsatisfied by that choice, choose again. However, life does not work that way, thus our choices are much more stressful than those in the books of years gone by.

Enough of the introductory blah, blah, blah. I am currently at the crossroads of a decision that will impact my career, family life, living environment, etc., whether I choose to take action or choose not to. Sure, I've faced these types of decisions before. For example, the decision to attend college, major in psychology, attend graduate school directly out of college instead of working first, begin working for an Insurance company while still between receiving my Masters degree and my Ph.D., get married a couple weeks after September 11, 2001, and have a child. I think the issue with the current decision is that it impacts so many people other than myself, including my wife and child, parents, co-workers and good friends in the area and in other states, soccer teammates, neighbors, etc. The number of factors to weigh is large, and as I am an analytical and critical processor of information by my nature, it is easy to go back and forth based on which particular components of information are most salient at a given point in time.

I can only trust that whatever decision I make will be the best for my family and I. One advantage of life not being like a choose your own adventure book is that there will be no way to go back and find out whether any other alternative would have turned out better. I need to convince myself that once the decision is made, all efforts should be placed into looking forward instead of looking back.

In the near future, when it is safe to do so, I will communicate my decision to the 3 of you reading this. At that time it will, of course, not be new information to any of you. So why the heck did I write this anyway? Well, it served as somewhat of a stress release during my review of relocation processes, Amazon.com's list of books on relocation, and all the other information buzzing about my head.

Mia's a Halloween Pumpkin--16 months old

2006-11-18T00:15:00.000-05:00

What you see here is Mia's very cute "Where'd it go" expression. She came up with this on her own, and often accompanies it by saying "Go?" or "Kitty Go?" or "______ Go", where the blank can be any object she saw at one point but doesn't see now.

Things I Learned From the...Part 2

2006-11-18T00:05:00.000-05:00

This is just a brief update to a previous post regarding "things I learned from the..." various non-traditional sources of information.

I recently attended an ASTD workshop in downtown Columbus and was intrigued when one of the CEOs/Presidents in the panel discussion began to talk about her method for gathering honest information about how her organization was doing. She mentioned that she makes a point to attend smoke breaks whenever conducting a site visit. The reason for this is that people on smoke breaks talk about the nature of their work and what is bothering them the most at that specific point in time. She therefore is able to get a good sense for employee concerns (and a much better sense than if she, an executive, tried to get these same individuals to provide candid feedback in a 1:1 setting with her.

On a related note, my sister mentioned that everyone at her former employer, a large internet service provider, used to stand around the water coolers and talk about what was going on in the organization. Rather than try to gather this input and use it to make constructive changes, their leadership removed the water coolers.

Midwestern Auto Group and Corporate VW Customer Care Don't Care About Their Customers

2006-09-28T21:15:00.000-04:00

When I bought my VW Passat, I knew its reliability was questionable, that's why I purchased a third party extended warranty. Many different repairs have been needed in the 6 years I've owned the car, but I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is the incompetence demonstrated by the Dublin Midwestern Auto Group Volkswagen Service Department, along with their lack of concern for the customer. To top that off, Volkswagen's Corporate Customer Care group is not at all interested in making things right that their service departments are messing up. There appears to be no accountability for good customer service within the entire company. If you're really bored, you can read my recent letter to VW in the next post. I followed the letter up with several phone conversations with VW Customer Care, and they declined to do ANYTHING to help redress their past errors and try to rebuild my trust. Therefore, I will never purchase another VW or any other automobile that VW has a stake in. I will do my best to tell everyone my customer disservice story, in order to save them from the crap VW calls "customer care".

Team Building Event of the Past

2006-08-31T22:26:00.000-04:00

When organizing documents in my home office, I recently came across the lyrics that we had written for a mock Budweiser commercial as part of a team building event at work. You know the commercials, the ones where a low voice narrates and a higher, heavy metal voice sings "we salute you, Mr. Zamboni driver", etc.

Why am I posting the song here? So Budweiser can pay me lots of money to sing, and pay my colleague lots of money to narrate. Well, not exactly. It's a more mundane reason...I'd like to throw out the paper with the lyrics, but I want to have it captured somewhere.

Anyway, the song we created is as follows:

We salute you, Mr. team building song creator (narrated)
You create songs in a moment's notice that are creative yet meaningless (narrated)
Mr. team building song creator (sung)
Bang those bongos now (sung in background)
Some prefer to lay low and judge, while others dare to soar (narrated)
Mr. team building song creator (sung)
Shake that tamborine now (sung in background)
Teammates may laugh, cry and take notes, but you don't care, your self-respect is long gone (narrated)
Mr. team building song creator (sung)

Italy Wins World Cup

2006-07-09T20:10:00.000-04:00

Well, it wasn't the most exciting World Cup final I've seen, but Italy prevailed. This somewhat softens the blow of the US team's early departure from the tournament, as at least I was able to root on my heritage (dad's side of the family). Plus, Eric and Jen came over so we had good/weird conversations throughout the game, making the time much more enjoyable for all.

U.S. Disappointing in World Cup Opener

2006-06-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

It took this long for me to calm down long enough to write something about the U.S. Soccer team's opening game against the Czech Republic at this year's World Cup. Although the Czech Republic is a very good team, the U.S. team looked like they were not prepared to play in a world cup game. They brought the same low level of energy into the world cup that had permeated their last few friendly matches leading up to the world cup. Despite a couple bright spots, including Claudio Reyna hitting the post and Landon Donovan's 1:1 effort drawing a yellow card on the Czech defender, the majority of the U.S. play was unenthusiastic and slow. Claudio Reyna is getting older and slower, so when he looks like one of the quickest U.S. players on the field, the team is in trouble. I could continue on like this for a while, but it's too painful. I want to relive the good times. I still distinctly remember the great pride I felt getting up at 2:55am to watch the U.S. take (and maintain) the lead over Portugal in 2002. I'm glad this year's game took place in mid-day as it would have been difficult to justify any loss of sleep to watch it. That being said, the U.S. has a good team, a team that can beat Italy, but only if it plays like the last couple matches of world cup qualifying, not like in the recent friendlies. I'm rooting for the U.S. to beat Italy on my birthday (the day before my first father's day). If they don't, then I start rooting for my more distant heritage, as I'll root Italy on to win the whole thing.

Happy 1st Birthday Mia!!!!

2006-06-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Mia had a great time at her first birthday party. We had heard many stories about 1 year olds' reactions to their first exposure to cake, so we were eager to see how Mia would react. She started off tentatively, checking with Mommy and Daddy to make sure this bright shiny thing was okay to eat. Once she had the go ahead, she picked off some icing and ate it. Apparently she liked it, as her hands went immediately back to the center of the cake. She ate many handfuls of cake and icing and overall had a great time. And even with all of that sugar in her system, she was still able to go to sleep relatively close to her normal time.

2006-06-01T23:06:00.000-04:00

Mia's 1st birthday is June 13. It's absolutely amazing to me that a year has gone by since she was born. She's crawling, says "ball" (she can pick out a ball or circle anywhere--in a room, in a book, on a shirt, 2 dimensional, 3 dimensional, partially hidden, etc.), says "mama", "dada" "go", "bye bye" and several other words we can't decipher. We're pretty sure she said "veggie puffs" the other day. She loves her sweet potato puffs. Her preferred mode of tranportation is holding mommy or daddy's hands as she walks around. Otherwise she'll settle for crawling. She has taken several unassisted steps, but she prefers holding onto mommy or daddy.

Things I Learned From The...

2006-04-19T00:09:00.000-04:00

Here' s one of my strange ideas for a new book, or series of books. Basically, each chapter in the book would contain a bunch of things I learned from a source we don't often view as particularly edifying. To illustrate the idea, here are a couple examples:

Things I learned from the...

Office printer--people often forget items they printed, and you sometimes see them as you're sorting through the printed items to find yours. For instance, you might see resumes, job postings, internet shopping confirmations, confidential e-mails, etc.
Restroom--It may sound sterotypical, but it seems that there is more to learn in the women's restroom than the men's, though I clearly don't speak from first hand knowledge on this one. Sometimes, for example, a trainer or facilitator can find out how their session is going by hanging out in one of the stalls and waiting for participants to chat with one another. Sure, another approach would be to just ask people directly, but the "Things I learned from asking people directly" chapter just didn't sound as interesting.
Hotel lobby phone--Sure, this may be a rare occurrance, but I have heard some interesting conversations taking place at hotel phones as I've sat in the lobbies waiting for an acquaintance to join me. In one particular instance, a female using the phone to talk to her boyfriend began speaking in pig latin when she noticed my presence. I did not let on that I knew pig latin (did she think that language was unique to her and her boyfriend?), so I heard about strange medical issues the woman was experiencing.
Smoke break--Well, it seems that all (or at least most) bets are off during smoke breaks. I don't smoke, but people who do seem to possess an automatic bond resulting in instant trust during a smoke break, sometimes breaking through the barriers of organizational level or status. All kinds of things that wouldn't be discussed within the confines of the office building are discussed casually 2 feet from the entrance.
Calendars--Some individuals use the office's electronic calendar (e.g., Lotus Notes, Outlook) to list everything they have to do during their week and weekend, even if it has no relationship to work whatsoever. You can basically get a complete understanding of these individuals' lives by perusing their calendars.

I have several specific examples that fall into the above categories, but at this point I'm interested in other categories that you would like to add, and any specific examples you have that fit within one of the aforementioned categories.

My Infinity Squared Counterpart--Update

2006-04-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

Some of Kevin Kniffin's research was recently highlighted in a feature article entitled "The Goods on Gossip" in the April 2006 edition of the American Psychological Association's Monitor magazine. The full study, entitled Utilities of gossip across organizational levels: Multilevel selection, free-riders and teams, appears in the journal Human Nature (Volume 16, No. 3. pp. 278-292). Hey Kevin, where's my free autographed reprint?

Visit with Dave, Denise and Ethan

2006-03-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to visit with some friends of ours who we hadn't seen for a few years. Nadya and I got a chance to catch up a bit with Dave and Denise, and Mia got the chance to meet Ethan. The trip was great, and involved lots of playing, some mall shopping, a fun children's museum, great places to eat, and an occasional check on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. We're looking forward to planning another visit soon.

Heavy Metal Rules!!

2006-03-28T23:23:00.000-05:00

And she has never even been to a concert, well unless you count Trans Siberian Orchestra, in utero. Ronnie James Dio would be proud. Bring on the Karaoke Revolution!!

Mia's Trip to Florida

2006-03-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

We recently returned from a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house in Port St. Lucie, FL. Mia did several things for the first time, including swimming in the ocean, crawling more than just a step or two, riding in a golf cart, and other fun things. She really seemed to love the warmer weather (and so did mommy and daddy)!

Mia at 6 1/2 Months

2006-01-16T21:06:00.000-05:00

What are you lookin' at?

Nowhere Man Returns!

2005-12-30T01:01:00.000-05:00

Did you ever notice how the timing of certain events seems too weird to be true? I just finished watching the last episode of Nowhere Man, finally obtaining closure (well, some at least) to a quest I unknowingly began my first year of graduate school at Ohio State. I was able to obtain the entire series from someone who had recorded the show onto videotapes when it originally aired. I went that route after finding out that there was no official planned DVD release for Nowhere Man. As it turns out, after I finished watching the last episode this evening, I did a web search and discovered that the official 9 DVD box set was just released this Tuesday! I may have to buy it, just for nostalgia's sake, and to hear the additional commentaries, see deleted scenes, etc. It's available at a discount from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BC8SXS/102-5930742-1215361?v=glance&n=130&v=glance

Here are a couple other coincidences: Two months ago I saw Bruce Greenwood in I, Robot, a movie which I never planned to watch, based on the reviews of others, but happened upon while flipping channels in the hotel on a trip to Cincinnati. In addition, after watching a particular episode of Nowhere Man (An Enemy Within) which prominently featured a female actor (Maria Bello) who befriends Tom Veil, I saw her in the trailer for a movie that had just been released (A History of Violence).

I'm starting to wonder if "they" wanted me to see these things. Okay, well, not really, but it's fun to think about coincidences, randomness, and unexplained events now and then.

Mia and Microsoft Word

2005-12-30T00:45:00.000-05:00

Here are excerpts from Mia’s first two Word documents. She "wrote"
both of these at 6 months of age.

Document 1:

444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
444444444444 c CG B ad54zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzhghtter

Document 2:

CSAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa A
vf vcjy ttttttttttttttttttttttttttt af jhmnb t n gc bmjg n/. b yhfgz csf b v
tchb mg yb nb. 5z X CDYUTUUUUUUUUUUT5UF vcgnfbv wsg b lm
okyhjm bk,vt45w5kj, t td bu.l , ugjghnb8j7 yughjm dsatv c bvgft63bvgfcy
bbbbbbbbbbbfce jhbbunj6t yhvvv c`

Well, that’s it for now. Maybe we’ll put some video clips on this blog at some point…

Christmas in Albany

2005-12-26T13:34:00.000-05:00

It's amazing that the only precipitation we've seen in upstate New York during our visit is rain! The last two visits dumped several feet of snow on us, but temperatures have been in the upper 30s this time. Mia did very well on her first two airline flights. We're hoping she does as well this evening during our return. Mia enjoyed opening some of her presents, and she really liked eating carrots (as you can see in the photo). Well, that's all I have time for right now. I'll write more when I return.

Ridin' The Metro

2005-12-11T17:37:00.000-05:00

I'm in DC for a seminar/training, and it's snowing, with 3-5 inches expected. This is when it's really nice to have underground (mostly) public transportation, so I'm glad to be on the Metro. I'm headed back to Vienna, where my sister, brother-in-law, their dog, and their unborn baby boy live.

So far the AMA seminar is interesting, and the participants come from many different companies and positions within them. I'm having fun, but I miss my Mia and Nadya.

The commute is easier than I thought it would be, although that's due in large part to my sister's willingness to get up at 6:45am to take me to the Metro station (so I could avoid walking to a bus stop, waiting in the cold for the bus, etc.). Have I mentioned that my sister's really cool. Sure, I'd never have said that 20 years ago, but it's true.

The early bird catches the...videophone?

2005-11-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm at Best Buy standing in line at 6:10am (the correct line, according to the Best Buy employee) to purchase videophones and a DVD recorder. There are separate lines for each product, with larger $ purchases having smaller lines, and one large mass frenzy up front. I'm still in line, and it's 6:28, 6:38, 6:48, 6:58...This is the first time I've gotten up this early to shop after Thanksgiving, and it may be the last.

Well it was slow, but at least they had all the advertised items. I'm outta here! It's 7:08am, and I must now journey onward to Circuit City for a great deal on memory stick media and JVC digital tapes...Circuit City seems almost as crowded as Best Buy, but the lines are much shorter here. I got in line at 7:20am, and I'm exiting the store at 7:35am. Now I'm making a quick stop at Staples, then MacDonald's, then Home Depot, and finally Home Zottoli!

(I wish I remembered the audio blog phone number, as it would have been fun to call this in)

A Mouse Tale

2005-11-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

Today's interesting work event centered around two little mice who made their presence known during a morning meeting in our server room. No one knows how they managed to make their way into our server room, but I'm sure the mice appreciated the extra warm climate. That is, until we made the decision to remove them from the building and put them out in the harsh elements. The way we figure it, their parents had left them to fend for themselves, and the long weekend trapped in the server room was likely to kill them. Plus, if the facilities staff found them, they would likely kill them in some sort of inhumane way. So, we figured at least they had a chance to survive if we let them go outside.

A Ride on a Philosophical Bus

2005-11-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I was talking with a coworker this afternoon and in the conversation I remembered an interesting element of my undergraduate philosophy of law class. It concerns Joel Feinberg's depiction of a hypothetical ride on a bus, during which the reader is asked to put themselves in the role of the bus rider, as progressively more offensive activities occur.

The point of the scenarios is that the individuals entering the bus, while being potentially offensive, are not harming (at least not physically) you. The question is whether some experiences can be so unpleasant that we will provide legal protection against them, even if it means limiting someone's freedom. Each person draws their "line in the sand" at a different point. Go ahead and see for yourselves.

Scenic Train Rides

2005-11-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I just saw part of a public access television show regarding scenic train rides in the Northeast. Last week, I had happened upon a similar broadcast about a multi-day/night train ride in the West, with stops in Salt Lake City and Yellowstone National Park. I always liked trains as a child, and it seems I still like them as a 32 year old child.

A Historic Day

2005-11-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

Well, not exactly. I did, however, get a comment approved so that it now resides on the Dilbert blog (see link on right side of page). The comment is reproduced below:

Along the lines of the "Hi Dick" comment, individuals sometimes come into the men's room with reading material. Although they often go to the stalls, they sometimes go to the urinals. It's in the latter instance that I find myself resisting the urge to say, "Can I hold something (or that) for you?". Posted by: Z-Man November 05, 2005 at 04:54 PM

Mia Tries Rice Cereal

2005-11-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

Here's Mia eating rice cereal. She seemed to like it, and she spent some time holding the spoon herself.

OSU Recruitment Paper at Amazon?!?!

2005-11-06T01:08:00.000-05:00

Well, it appears that Amazon.com somehow got a working paper that I had written, based on my masters thesis at OSU.

In Books

Recruitment source research: Current status and future directions (Working paper series) by Michael Andrew Zottoli ; Unknown Binding Out of Print--Limited Availability*
See more information about this product. * Price and availability are subject to change.
If you have questions about Amazon.com, please visit our Help Department
Amazon.comEarth's Biggest SelectionFind, Discover, and Buy Virtually Anythinghttp://www.amazon.com

My Infinity Squared Counterpart

2005-11-06T00:58:00.000-05:00

I just did a brief search and Kevin is apparently well represented in blogs.

For 18 months, Kevin Kniffin, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, tracked the social interactions of a university crew team, about 50 men and women who rowed together in groups of four or eight. Dr. Kniffin said he was still analyzing his research notes. But a preliminary finding, he said, was that gossip levels peaked when the team included a slacker, a young man who regularly missed practices or showed up late. Fellow crew members joked about the slacker's sex life behind his back and made cruel cracks about his character and manhood, in part because the man's shortcoming reflected badly on the entire team."As soon as this guy left the team, the people were back to talking about radio, food, politics, weather, those sorts of things," Dr. Kniffin said. "There was very little negative gossip."

E-Learning Take 3

2005-11-06T00:22:00.000-05:00

Listing of several articles in Training & Development.
The Powell article on E-Learning is worth at least a
skim read. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4467/

E-Learning Take 2

2005-11-05T00:47:00.000-05:00

http://www.hezel.com/strategies/spring2002/cost_effective.htm

Mia Halloween Pics

2005-11-05T00:12:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of our little "frog" on Halloween. She was at least as interested in the candy as her mom and dad.

E-Learning Effectiveness Information

2005-11-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

http://www.astd.org/ASTD/Templates/OneBox.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2FASTD%2FResources%2Felearning_community%2Feffect.htm&NRNODEGUID=%7B93219D66-5A09-459F-967C-0B806EA79EAB%7D&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest